ACA’s annual meeting, the National Chiropractic Leadership Conference, brings you cutting-edge, evidence-based education sessions featuring some of the chiropractic profession’s most respected thought leaders and content experts. Many sessions also offer continuing education credits. Here we pose questions to one of the presenters: James J. Lehman, DC, MBA, whose program is titled, “A Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine Residency: An Example of Interprofessional Collaboration.”

A new cohort of residents has joined the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system’s Chiropractic Residency Program this year. Three chiropractors participating in the program – Vivian Ly, DC, Danielle Aslan, DC, and Dr. Jamie Zeman, DC – will continue ACA’s blog series on the residency program over the next year, sharing their experiences as well as lessons learned working as part of an integrated hospital team.

An Introduction to Diverse Needs

While a chiropractic student, I traveled with a group of medical providers to a community in Ghana to provide supplies, assist with health screens in remote villages, and work in a local hospital within a variety of departments. During my time there, I interviewed different community members employed by the hospital or by non-governmental organizations working with the hospital about their perceived health burdens and openness to chiropractic. Unexpectedly, interviewees expressed that while they practiced a Western medicine model, there was some uncertainty on how much that body of knowledge applied to them since they felt so underrepresented in the studies that contributed to that knowledge. The patients and study participants described were rarely people that came from similar geography, cultures, and lifestyles or had physical characteristics they identified with.

When ACA decided to make some transitions last year, we were determined that this process would go deeper than just a new logo design and some brighter website colors. Today, we are committed to “living our values” by putting patients at the center of all our decisions, using the best available evidence and by collaborating with other healthcare providers. Adhering to best practices and having a positive attitude are also paramount. To this end, we are launching a new learning system, called Learn ACA, that will make it easier for chiropractors to access top-quality online education and their required continuing education units (CEUs).

Going to college is a goal for many students graduating high school. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “In October 2017, 66.7 percent of 2017 high school graduates age 16 to 24 were enrolled in colleges or universities. Among persons age 20 to 29 who received a bachelor's degree in 2017, 77.6 percent were employed.” The full realization of how much college costs may only be fully grasped after receiving an acceptance letter. Unfortunately, unless financial planning starts years earlier, many students’ dreams may be dashed, or cumbersome borrowing could become a burden that follows them for years to come.